


And Then The Bonds Were Broken

by Rambert



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst and Drama, Boys In Love, Established Relationship, I love Runaan, M/M, Mild Blood, Mild Gore, My First Work in This Fandom, Reunited and It Feels So Good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-30 05:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19846858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rambert/pseuds/Rambert
Summary: What if Viren had saved Runaan from the bond that was threatening his life? What if the mirror wasn't Aaravos's prison, but something else entirely? Runaan is forced to give information that could compromise the safety of all of Xadia in order to survive. Viren uses Dark Magic in a new and terrible way. Claudia and Soren have an important conversation outside the castle. Takes place during Season 1, removing Season 2 from the canon.





	And Then The Bonds Were Broken

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this little drabble after watching Season 1, before Season 2 came out and Aaravos was revealed. All I knew was that at least one elf was trapped in the mirror realm, but I didn't do any extensive fandom research into it. Honestly my plot here is full of holes and this will most likely remain an unfinished oneshot. I just wanted to write Runaan living and getting back to his love :P and to have Claudia and Soren honestly discuss what happened with Viren's request, because as I suspected, things didn't play out that way in Season 2! I considered rewriting it to make sense in the canon but decided it works better as an AU. I sort of drew inspiration from the Harry Potter universe, comparing this version of the mirror to the Veil that Sirius Black falls into (which is never fully explained in the books).

"I told you... I am already dead," Runaan hissed back at Lord Viren, eyes blazing with hatred.

"Are you?" Viren laughed, a cold, callous sound.

"Are you sure about that? Because I have something that can break your elven bond. Your arm looks like it's about to fall off at the shoulder."

"What is your _point_?" Runaan growled.

"You've seen me get worse and worse, keeping me down here in your foul dungeon. If you don't use whatever miracle cure you claim to have, and quickly, I _will_ die. The others only lost their hands but I? I will lose my heart, because I am the one who started the ritual, as you'd know if you did your research properly. My heart will stop beating in a few hours," he said, and fell silent, breathing heavily and feeling the ache in his chest worsening with every inhale.

"I know," Viren said, grinning in a way that turned Runaan's stomach.

"And I have a way to help you live, _if_ you will help me."

"How do I know you're not lying to me?"

"Here it is."

Lord Viren pulled a knife out of his robes, a jagged and multi-tipped thing that looked more like... teeth, than a knife.

"Dragon teeth," he murmured reverently as he lifted up the corner of Runaan's bond bracelet onto the knife, tugging up a little.

"I just need an incantation to increase my power to pull, and the teeth will shred right through this. It's the only way to break a failed bond," Viren said knowingly, and Runaan could tell he believed he was telling the truth.

Of course he didn't know for sure if the human's believed truth was real, because breaking bonds was not the elven way, but... this seemed like it might be legitimate. He had seen dragon teeth knives briefly mentioned in old books, but never in person. Mutilating dragons for magical purposes was also not the elven way.

"So," the necromancer said in a low voice, "Will you help me, elf? Will you tell me what I need to know?"

"..."

Runaan had suffered greatly in silence the past few days and was near the breaking point. Each breath he took was agony, now, and his heart was pounding painfully in his chest. He knew the wizard could conjure enough strength, and those _were_ real dragon teeth, and... and he didn't want to die! He wanted nothing more than to be with Ethari again...

Shame burned the elf's cheeks as he looked away, sagging backwards into the wall.

"Yes. I'll tell you whatever you wish to know, in exchange for my life being spared and safe passage back to Xadia."

"Good... then we have an agreement."

Viren's voice was foreboding, almost evilly pleased, as he pulled a small insect out of his pocket and began to chant in a chilling voice, crushing the life out of the bug; his eyes went purple, then black as he channeled his power and _pulled_... and after some initial resistance, the knife tore through the elf bond bracelet on Runaan's bicep, and it fell in tatters to the floor next to the elf.

Runaan exhaled, feeling close to tears.

"It's... it's gone," he exhaled, collapsing in relief.

"It's gone...!"

"Yes," Viren said, savoring the deliciousness of Runaan's spirit breaking, and yielding... to him.

"Yes, it is gone. I will leave you now... get some rest," he said, and with a wave of his hand and another incantation the chains around Runaan's wrists disappeared.

"But please eat from the trays brought to you, and in the morning we will have our talk."

"Whatever you wish," Runaan replied tonelessly, looking at the floor.

"I will fulfill the terms."

Viren would also know that a Moonshadow elf never went back on their word, part of why their binding magic was possible in the first place. It was humans who learned to lie, to manipulate, to deceive. And it was elves with human manipulations in their ears who first developed Dark Magic.

"Indeed you will. Goodnight," Viren called out in a sing-song voice as he closed the door, going upstairs to his quarters.

The place was especially empty without his children causing some sort of commotion, and Viren would hardly admit it but... he was lonely. Curling up in bed, not for the first time, he missed Harrow and all the others. Even Callum and Ezran and that foul little "Bait"... but he was too far gone on this path to stray now. What he was doing was God's work, and for the good of humanity. At least... that's what he told himself to keep himself from weeping over Harrow's "body", that was currently being kept in a cage.

\---

Meanwhile, Claudia and Soren were following the trail from her tracking spell when Claudia broke the silence between them.

"So what did Dad ask you to do?"

Soren coughed awkwardly and looked away.

"Claudia, we already talked about this, it was nothing!"

"No, we talked about it back at the castle when Dad was eavesdropping on us," Claudia muttered in irritation.

"Stop being difficult Soren. Tell me what Dad asked you to do!" she demanded, and summoned a flock of phantom crows to peck at him.

"All right, all right! Call off your crows!" Soren cried, running around in circles trying to get away from the magic beaks. Once they'd gone away, he collapsed onto the ground, shaking his head.

"I... I don't know how to say this Claud," he said, and Claudia gasped in shock, kneeling quickly beside him.

He hadn't called her that since he was a baby, and she a young child.

"Soren... you can tell me," she said gently.

"Dad told me... to _kill_ the princes," Soren whispered, looking as if he was about to cry.

"And he told me... t-told me it was for the good of the kingdom..."

"Oh, Soren...!" Claudia reached out to hold her brother in comfort even as the pieces were sinking into place rapidly in her mind.

"That's what he meant when he told me that no matter what happened, _I_ was to bring the egg back... oh, Soren, thank you for telling me," she said, rocking her brother as he fought for composure.

"We don't have to keep secrets from one another... we will not be our father," she said, her voice going low and dangerous.

"He will _pay_ for pitting us against each other like this."

"Tell me what to do," Soren replied hoarsely, sniffling and wiping at his eyes as he sat up.

"But, Claud, does this mean we're going to give up on finding the princes?"

"No, of course not," Claudia replied curtly as she helped her brother to his feet.

"We still have to recover the dragon egg, and rescue the princes from that foul _beast_."

"Right... guess I was kind of hoping we could just go back and pop Dad one, but, I get it. Priorities," Soren said with a sigh, and Claudia shook her head but smiled back at her brother as she began to walk again.

"Oh trust me, brother mine. We'll have _plenty_ of time to get revenge on Dad when we return."

\---

Runaan felt... better. _Much_ better than he had felt just a few hours ago. He'd been able to meditate, thanks to the chains being off, and now was pulsating at full power in the moonlight. Viren was a fool for unchaining him, but humans were so _arrogant_.

Still, as Runaan looked at the covered Mirror in the corner, the elf couldn't help but shudder in fear at being stuck in here with... _that_. Viren didn't even know its full power... neither did Runaan, honestly. And he wasn't about to stick around and find out.

He was prowling the perimeter of the room, searching for a cracked tile or something he could utilize as a way out, when he heard footsteps.

 _Viren_.

Runaan hid in the corner of the room, letting the shadows obscure him entirely as he crept up onto the wall in a splay-footed maneuver that would allow him to jump off the corner onto the floor.

"Elf...? Are you there, elf?"

So it wasn't Viren, after all... oh well. This poor sod would meet the same fate regardless. Runaan waited until the last possible moment, to strike... and the guard never saw it coming.

A few minutes later the guard was slumped in the shadowy corner with his face turned away, and Runaan emerged from the cell wearing the guard's armor and overshirt. It was hot and it stank something foul, but he needed to get out of here... the dragon tooth knife was in his pocket. Viren had been so careless he'd left it in there, with Runaan unchained!

In fact, the entire thing was starting to feel a bit _too_ easy to the elf assassin, and he paused a moment to gather his bearings and listen.

"Ah, so you _are_ good," Viren's voice came slithering into his ear, as if by magic, and Runaan whirled around... to see no one.

"Where are you, necromancer?!"

"I am everywhere," Viren purred, with a laugh that ended in a wet cough.

"I have guards convening on your location now, elf... you will not be allowed to leave until I get the information I desire from you."

"You monster! You don't even know what you're speaking about, you'll kill us all!" Runaan cried, pulling out the dagger he'd taken from the guard.

Sure enough, he heard footsteps of multiple people coming down the corridor to his left, and by the time he'd dispatched those he heard more, and more were added midfight, and soon he was surrounded... Runaan fell to his knees, hanging his head in shame.

"Bring him to my quarters," Viren announced to the guards, and though a couple of them raised eyebrows they did as they were told.

Many of them had noted that General Amaya's warning had come true scarcely seconds after she'd departed, and they were in fact already planning a mutiny against Viren. Unfortunately for Runaan, many of the humans in the guard were prejudiced based on the misinformation everpresent in this realm about Xadia and Moonshadow elves, therefore in this they did not seek to challenge Viren now when they were about to plot his downfall for good.

"Through there, elf," the guard holding his arm said, pushing Runaan forward towards a door with a carved sun and moon on it.

"We'll be out here if you try any funny business."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Runaan replied, his voice nastily sarcastic.

He opened the door and for a moment struggled to pick Viren's form out in the flickering candlelight.

"Ah, you're here. Excellent. Welcome," Viren said, pouring a glass of elderberry wine for the elf and one for himself.

"Please, help yourself-- it's a vintage bottle."

"I don't partake in spirits," Runaan said contemptuously.

"And the elves don't break their promises, yet I found you trying to sneak out on me," Viren said, smiling as he sat down and took a sip of his own glass.

"What would have happened to you if you'd escaped, hm...? Lost a leg?"

Runaan's eyes rolled and he groaned.

"Seriously? I heard tales about you; you're supposed to be _smart_. Only binding results in something we get physical consequences for breaking. Me lying to you is just me stooping to your level, human."

"Oh is it, _elf_?" Viren snapped back, eyes narrowing.

"I could have just let you die, you know. I spared your life!"

"I was prepared to end it," Runaan said, picking up the glass of wine and sniffing at it, pretending to contemplate taking a sip.

"I was prepared to die to pay the oath of the bond, but you and your trinket interfered with old and ancient magics. No wonder you are being possessed by the evil side of things, necromancer... you just want the shortcuts, the instant gratification. Real magic takes time, and a respect for life and balance, as all good things do."

Quick as lightning, Runaan smashed the wine glass on the table, spattering him and Viren both with wine and tiny shards of glass. He was at the human's throat a moment later, the broken stem of the glass in his hand pointed at Viren's jugular.

"Now give me a reason to spare _your_ life, you pathetic waste," Runaan hissed.

Viren gasped, eyes widening, and he gulped for air.

"P-please... don't kill me," he babbled, like a child.

"Please don't kill me..."

"That's it? You really are pathetic. I will enjoy watching you die," Runaan said triumphantly, but then a moment later when he stabbed the broken glass deep into Viren's throat... something happened.

There was a scream, from deep down in the dungeon, that resonated in the ears of both man and elf. And the wound in Viren's throat started to close up, almost instantly... and the necromancer _laughed_ , his eyes now bloodshot and purple though they were quickly fading back to normal.

"You fool... that wasn't me you killed," he rasped as his vocal chords stitched themselves back up inside his repairing throat, and Runaan made a choking sound, backing away from the necromancer as if burned.

"Oh... ohgod..."

The mirror.

"The _mirror_!" the elf cried out miserably.

How could he have forgotten? How could he have been so naive? Viren may be human and arrogant but he _did_ have power... power he was clearly ready to use for the worst means possible.

"Yes, the mirror," Viren growled, a twisted grin spreading on his face as he picked up the wine bottle and took several swigs straight from it.

"So I'd think twice before doing that again if I were you, elf, unless you want the blood of _more_ innocents on your hands."

"W-who was it? Who did I kill instead of you?" the Moonshadow elf asked, his voice-- and hands-- shaking.

"Oh, I don't know. Haven't really figured that part out yet. Don't really care."

"You-- y-you _monster_!" Runaan cried, flinging himself at Viren in a rage and choking him.

The necromancer put up no resistance, choking out a gurgling laugh as his voice curled through Runaan's mind.

"Don't you _get_ it yet, elf? You can't kill me, and you can't escape until you tell me what I want to know about the mirror."

Runaan fell away from Viren, breathing ragged as he fought not to pass out, the vertigo hitting him as he realized just what kind of power this human had tapped into. His hands rested on his knees as he caught his breath, voice low as he looked at the floor.

"What I'm about to tell you is only what I personally have seen, from that Mirror. I do not know where it comes from or who made it or what purpose it originally served, but I have seen it destroy whole fields of farm land, topple kingdoms. It's a weapon, and in the wrong hands it could end... everything."

Viren couldn't stop the delighted laugh that bubbled out of him, at that. His throat was quite sore from the choking, but it was worth it.

"Oh _good_ ," he crowed, savoring the way Runaan's face twisted in pain.

"I can't _wait_ to hear more."

\----

A week later, Runaan collapsed at the door of his home in Xadia, beginning to sob before he could even gather himself enough to knock. But his lover had already heard him of course, rushing to the door, and finally, _finally_ those arms were around him again... and he could not stop crying.

"Oh, Runaan," Ethari whispered, stroking his hair as his own tears spilled out.

"Runaan, I thought y'were dead."

"I thought I was dead too," Runaan choked out, clutching desperately at Ethari's tunic. "I t-thought I'd never see you again."

"But you're here... you are here, my love, and I am never going to let you out of my sight again," the tinker said, holding Runaan almost too tightly... but he needed that, right now.

Later, after more crying, some eating, passionate lovemaking and still more crying, Runaan and Ethari were finally relaxing into sleep, still twined up in each other's bodies as if unable to spend a second not touching.

"But my love... how did you do it?" Tinker asked, tracing over the spot he had seen Runaan's binding be applied and marveling that there wasn't so much as a scar.

"I know you escaped Katolis easily as you've done before, but... this? How...?"

"..." Runaan's eyes teared up again, this time in shame.

"...D...Dark Magic," he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut to try and stop more tears, but they were coming anyway.

He didn't want to tell Ethari about the scream, about how he'd... stabbed one of their own. Someone innocent-- this was different from all the kills he'd taken in battle. If he said it out loud, what had happened... would that make him a heartless killer for good?

"The king's necromancer, he... h-he waited until I was almost dead, to show me. I was... already having trouble breathing."

He felt Ethari shiver next to him at those last words.

"He had a dragon tooth knife. The kind I'd only read about," Runaan said, marveling at it still.

"And he said... that with a simple incantation, he'd have the strength to wield it and tear the bond."

"And you believed him?!"

"Ethari... it worked. That's the only reason I'm alive. That necromancer is... the only reason I'm alive."

"...Hn. Then... I suppose I owe him one after all," Ethari replied, but his tone was sour.

"I... there's... something else," Runaan added, before he completely lost his nerve.

"The necromancer... asked me about the mirror. He... made me tell him about the Battle of the Elves. Accurately, since you know humans never got the full account."

Ethari had gone utterly silent and still beside him, and Runaan plunged awkwardly on.

"I-I know you must think I'm a traitor but I didn't tell him much, and I don't know for sure if he even knows how to stop the side effects, and if I turn myself in I can--"

Suddenly Ethari's grip on him _was_ painful.

"No. No Runaan, you are _not_ leaving me again."

Runaan took a shuddering breath.

"B-but... but he knows, Ethari. He knows too much now, enough to h-hurt people, and it's my fault," he ended, despairingly.

"You were dying," Ethari murmured, kissing Runaan's forehead.

"Anyone would have done what you did, given the circumstances. But if you turn yourself in, you'll be detained and I _can't lose you again_. Please... please just stay with me..."

Runaan broke, at that, and the two elves sobbed in each other's arms until they were utterly exhausted; they passed out comforting one another and Runaan got his first restful sleep in weeks.

In the morning, though, the elf assassin was conflicted again.

"You know, you wouldn't have to tell them that the necromancer tortured the information out of you. You could say that he already knew," Ethari supplied, trying to help.

"But then what incentive would he have for saving my life?"

"Maybe... he wanted you to come back to Xadia. To warn us that he knows how to access the Mirror."

"But... that's a lie too." Runaan's eyes searched his lover's, worried.

"You want me to lie to the Queen of Xadia? What if she decides that's a threat of war and declares war upon Katolis?" he whispered.

"I don't know. I don't _know_ , Runaan!"

Ethari was crying again.

"I just... I j-just don't want to lose you," he said pathetically, clinging to his lover's hands.

"You only just got back and... a-and when the other elves came back, they said that you and Rayla and the others who weren't with them were... w-were--"

"Shhhhh... but I'm not dead," Runaan breathed softly against Ethari's cheek, nuzzling the tears away.

"I'm right here, my heart, my soul," he murmured, picking up the tinker's hand and placing it over his heart.

"Do you feel it, Ethari...? Feel my heart? It beats for you, stronger than ever. And I know what they said about Rayla, but I know the necromancer sent his two children out to look for the princes, saying they were with an elf, so... I believe in my heart she is still alive as well. We will see her again, my love."

Viren may have thought he had the upper hand in his own castle, but he had spilled too much information to Runaan after learning about the mirror.

Ethari's crying gradually calmed down, and finally he sighed in resignation against his lover's shoulder.

"All right, Runaan."

"All right...?"

"You may turn yourself in. Tomorrow-- we get one more day here together, first. But I'm going with you-- if you get detained for questioning, so do I. I'm not leaving your side," Ethari insisted, squeezing Runaan's hand tightly.

Runaan grinned, feeling relief sweep through him.

"I will bind myself to you tonight, if that is what you wish," he joked, but the tinker saw in Runaan's eyes the love and devotion there.

"I love you," Ethari said, his voice quiet and joyful as he looked back into Runaan's eyes.

"I love you too," Runaan replied, leaning in for a kiss.

Even though the assassin was uncertain about what would happen tomorrow... they were together again. Ethari was in his arms once more.

And that was really all that mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This is my first fanfiction in over ten years, lol, what can I say this cartoon inspired these old bones. If you liked it, please comment and/or give kudos! 
> 
> If enough people are into it I might flesh this out more and do another installment, involving more of Claudia & Soren deviating from Season 2 plot and Runaan turning himself in to the Queen and getting more backstory on this AU mirror plot. Suggestions & minor canon corrections for this arc are welcome also! :D
> 
> The title's meaning is twofold, referring to the breaking of Runaan's bond (literally), and the breaking of Claudia & Soren from their father's influence (metaphorically). 
> 
> Oh and, Claudia refers to Rayla as a 'beast' because of the canon racism and Viren tells himself he's doing "God's work for the good of humanity" because he's a bigoted jerk - those do not reflect the views of the author :3


End file.
